The Gist: Kellyanne Conway openly mocked the odds of Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) holding onto his Senate seat after he made a racially-charged dig at his Democratic opponent at a Thursday debate.

From The Reporter’s Notebook

In her first joint appearance with Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail, Michelle Obama riffed on the stock Democratic line that Clinton is the most qualified candidate ever, TPM’s Esme Cribb reported. “Yeah, that’s right,” the first lady said with a smile. “Hillary doesn’t play.” She went on to slam Trump’s claims that the election will be “rigged” without mentioning the GOP nominee by name. “In this country, the United States of America, the voters decide our elections,” Obama. “They’ve always decided. Voters decide who wins and loses, period, end of story.”

Agree or Disagree?

Josh Marshall: “Donald Trump has been saying for weeks that he’s put $100 million of his own money into his campaign, even going so far as to attempt to shame Hillary Clinton for not contributing some of her own money to her campaign. Just yesterday Trump told CNN ‘I will have more than $100 million in the campaign. And I am prepared to go much more than that.’ Surprisingly, this turns out to be a huge lie.”

Say What?!

“I’m not a dummy.”

– Gary Johnson blew up at a reporter during a contentious interview about tax policy and his position in the polls.

BUZZING: Today in the Hive

From a TPM Prime member: “I think that Republicans fear the long memories of the population that most stridently opposes Garland’s confirmation, the religious right — not necessarily for losing Senate seats, but for the inevitable series of primary battles that would be launched against Senators who voted for Garland, and even those who did not continue to obstruct his nomination while voting against his confirmation. It may be good policy for the Republicans to confirm the most conservative nominee they’re apt to get under a Democratic president, but I don’t see how they can get past the politics.”